6 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Do honey badgers and greater honeyguide birds cooperate to access beesâ nests? Ecological evidence and honey-hunter accounts
In parts of Africa, greater honeyguides (Indicator indicator) lead people to beesâ nests, after which people harvest the honey, and make beeswax and larvae accessible to the honeyguide. In scientific and popular literature, a similar cooperative relationship is frequently described between honeyguides and honey badgers (Mellivora capensis), yet the evidence that this occurs is unclear. Such a partnership may have implications for the origins of our own speciesâ cooperation with honeyguides, and for the ecology and conservation of both honey badgers and honeyguides. Here, we review the evidence that honey badgers and honeyguides cooperate to access beesâ nests, drawing from the published literature, from our own observations whilst studying both species, and by analysing 394 interviews with honey-hunters in 11 communities across nine African countries. We find that the scientific evidence relies on incomplete and second-hand accounts and does not convincingly indicate that the two species cooperate. The majority of honey-hunters we interviewed were similarly doubtful about the interaction, but many interviewees in the Hadzabe, Maasai, and mixed culture communities in Tanzania reported having seen honey badgers and honeyguides interact, and think that they do cooperate. This complementary approach suggests that the most likely scenario is that the interaction does occur but is highly localised or extremely difficult to observe, or both. With substantial uncertainty remaining, we outline empirical studies that would clarify whether and where honeyguides and honey badgers cooperate, and emphasise the value of integrating scientific and cultural knowledge in ecology.Animal Behaviour Association
Animal Behavior Society
British Ornithologistsâ Union
European Research Council Consolidator Grant (725185 HONEYGUIDES-HUMANS)
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
National Science Foundation
Nyika-Vwaza Trust
Society for Conservation Biolog
Recommended from our members
Do honey badgers and greater honeyguide birds cooperate to access beesâ nests? Ecological evidence and honey-hunter accounts
Funder: Animal Behavior Society; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100009702Funder: The Association for the Study of Animal BehaviourFunder: British Ornithologists' UnionFunder: MaxâPlanckâInstitut fĂŒr EvolutionĂ€re AnthropologieFunder: National Science Foundation; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008982Funder: NyikaâVwaza TrustFunder: Society for Conservation Biology; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100013840In parts of Africa, greater honeyguides (Indicator indicator) lead people to beesâ nests, after which people harvest the honey, and make beeswax and larvae accessible to the honeyguide. In scientific and popular literature, a similar cooperative relationship is frequently described between honeyguides and honey badgers (Mellivora capensis), yet the evidence that this occurs is unclear. Such a partnership may have implications for the origins of our own speciesâ cooperation with honeyguides, and for the ecology and conservation of both honey badgers and honeyguides. Here, we review the evidence that honey badgers and honeyguides cooperate to access beesâ nests, drawing from the published literature, from our own observations whilst studying both species, and by analysing 394 interviews with honey-hunters in 11 communities across nine African countries. We find that the scientific evidence relies on incomplete and second-hand accounts and does not convincingly indicate that the two species cooperate. The majority of honey-hunters we interviewed were similarly doubtful about the interaction, but many interviewees in the Hadzabe, Maasai, and mixed culture communities in Tanzania reported having seen honey badgers and honeyguides interact, and think that they do cooperate. This complementary approach suggests that the most likely scenario is that the interaction does occur but is highly localised or extremely difficult to observe, or both. With substantial uncertainty remaining, we outline empirical studies that would clarify whether and where honeyguides and honey badgers cooperate, and emphasise the value of integrating scientific and cultural knowledge in ecology.Animal Behaviour Association
Animal Behavior Society
British Ornithologistsâ Union
European Research Council Consolidator Grant (725185 HONEYGUIDES-HUMANS)
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
National Science Foundation
Nyika-Vwaza Trust
Society for Conservation Biolog
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures
When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication
Recommended from our members
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures.
When interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication
Acoustic regularities in infant-directed speech and song across cultures
National audienceWhen interacting with infants, humans often alter their speech and song in ways thought to support communication. Theories of human child-rearing, informed by data on vocal signalling across species, predict that such alterations should appear globally. Here, we show acoustic differences between infant-directed and adult-directed vocalizations across cultures. We collected 1,615 recordings of infant- and adult-directed speech and song produced by 410 people in 21 urban, rural and small-scale societies. Infant-directedness was reliably classified from acoustic features only, with acoustic profiles of infant-directedness differing across language and music but in consistent fashions. We then studied listener sensitivity to these acoustic features. We played the recordings to 51,065 people from 187 countries, recruited via an English-language website, who guessed whether each vocalization was infant-directed. Their intuitions were more accurate than chance, predictable in part by common sets of acoustic features and robust to the effects of linguistic relatedness between vocalizer and listener. These findings inform hypotheses of the psychological functions and evolution of human communication